Carding machinery



Dec. 2, 1952 I VARGA 2,619,682

CARDING MACHINERY Filed March 1. 1948 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Dec. 2, 1952 A. VARGA CARDING MACHINERY 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed March 1, 1948 'Dec. 1952 I A. VARGA (CARDING MACHINERY 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed March 1, 1948 W m i; N @QQ Patented Dec. 2, 1952 CARDING MACHINERY Andr Varga, Ilkley,'England, assignor to Card ing Specialists (Canada) Limited, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, a Canadian company I Application March 1, 1948, Serial No. 12,273

In Great Britain March 3, 1947 4 Claims.

This invention relates to carding machinery and more particularly to lickerin-breasts. V

The mechanical carding process comprises the progressive breaking down, disintegration and blending of a tangled mass of fibres, together with a degree of combing which increases during the process. The tangled mass is fed to the machinery in the form of a continuous layer and finally emerges in the form of a thin web in which all the fibres are disentangled and lie substantially alongside each other.

Usually there are three stages to the process, carried out by three successive machines: the scribbler, the intermediate and the carder.

The disintegration of the tangled mass entails two actionsthat of splitting in two the locks, tufts and knots of tangled fibres (herein termed locks), and that of combing and thereby disintegrating the two parts of the locks. These actions will herein be shortly termed splitting and combing.

The disintegration of the mass into individual fibres must, of necessity, be performed more gently in the initial stages-i. e. in the scribblerto prevent undue breakage of the fibres. Therefore, the first stage should consist mainly of splitting of locks. As the locks become smaller and less tangled due to successive splittings, the action may be changed to a combined splitting and combing action and in the final stage the action becomes predominantly a combing action which is performed with increasing severity and duration as the fibres pass through the machincry.

The initial disintegration of a lock is generally performed in a so-called breast which acts thereon prior to passage to the first proper swift of the engine. This breast is usually incorporated in the scribbler and comprises a swift (of slightly smaller diameter than the normal cardciency in this respect is impaired if the material passing through it has not previously been sufficiently separated into individual fibres.

The lickerin-breast of the so-called Bradford Worsted Card is better adapted to split up locks than the aforesaid swift and doffer breast. Material fed into this lickerin-breast passes once through four lickerin rollers and the fibre locks are split up by two, or sometimes three, dividers, placed each between a pair of lickerin rollers. In this manner, each original lock is split three times to approximately one eighth of its original size.

The known construction of lickerin-breast has four main disadvantages which render its use unsatisfactory: (1) If any variation in the speeds of the lickerin and divider rollers is desired, the

I machine has to be stopped; (2) the carding work ing swift) with a doffer, both clothed by coarser 7 wires than normal card clothing and driven slower than the rest of the swifts. Although enjoying some measure of success this arrangement does not achieve a suificient degree of splitting of the fibre locks. In a normal carding engine locks can be still seen in the second and third swift of the scribbler and often even in the carder, although such locks should have been broken down at an earlier stage, since one of the objects of carding is the mixing and levelling of the blend. Although the ordinary carding engine (which comprises workers and strippers arranged around a swift that is cleared by a doffer) has a great capacity for mixing and levelling, its efiii performed is consequently rigid, i. e. the machine cannot be readily adapted to preserve fibre length and to work with maximum efficiency the great variety of fibres which the carding machine is called upon to treat; (3) the locks are still of a fair size if reduced to one eighth; l) the machine occupies too much floor space.

Adjustment of speed has only been obtainable hitherto by stopping the machine and altering the gear ratio of one or more individual rollers as required as by substituting different pulleys, gears and sprockets. Such a method has proved both cumbersome and unsatisfactory and it is almost impossible to obtain the most suitable speed for any particular condition of the locks, more especially as the roller speeds are very critical, and adjustment of the Whole train of lickerin rollers and also of divider rollers may be necessary to suit such particular conditions.

stoppages are not only inconvenient and cause a loss of time in production, but the character of the work changes in the procedure of stopping and restarting, and consequently the distribution of the fibres becomes disturbed. Also the intermittent observation of the results of the speed changes (in an endeavour to obtain the critical speed) makes the comparison of various results impracticable.

A specific object of this invention is to improve the performance of the liokerin-breast so as to increase it capacity for separating any kind of blend into individual fibres, and for mixing and levelling (irrespective of the characteristics of the fibres and state of the blend, 1. e. open, felted or entangled) whilst still preserving the length of the fibres.

According to the present invention, carding machinery comprising a train of lickerin rollers and a train of divider rollers co-operating therewith, is characterised by the provision of driving means arranged to permit variation of speed within limits of one train independently of the other while the machinery is in operation.

The invention furthermore includes carding machinery comprising a train of lickerin rollers, a train of divider rollers, and driving means therefor including variable speed transmission arranged to permit simultaneous, as well as independent, variation of speed of the trains within limits while the machinery is in operation.

The lickerin rollers are geared together so that from the feed to the delivery end of the train successive rollers operate at increased speed and the divider rollers are geared together so that successive rollers in the train operate at different speeds.

With the present invention, variations of the lickerin train and/or the divider train can be efiected whilst running and without disturbing the predetermined relative speed ratios of the rollers of the train or trains.

The said driving means may comprise a motor or motors or gearing capable of infinite variation of speed within limits while the machinery is in operation. Alternatively, the said driving means may comprise gearing capable of varying the speed of the train or trains on a number of predetermined ratios.

According to a further feature of the inven tion, at least two divider rollers may be arranged to collaborate with two adjacent lickerin rollers in such manner that while the share of each lickerin roller is passed forward, at least one dividers share is returned to the preceding lickerin roller and forced to pass through the preceding roller or rollers of the machine repeatedly.

At least one dofier roller co-acting with a lickerin roller may be included. Thus, one or more doffer rollers is or are geared to one train or the other in such manner that the speed thereof varies according to that of the train to which it is geared but is also independently adjustable. A fancy roller may be arranged to work in conjunction with a lickerin roller followed by a dofier, said fancy roller being driven by means capable of infinite variation of speed within limits while the machinery is in operation. Two or more trains of lickerin rollers] may be arranged with a dofier roller interposed therebetween.

The first divider roller or rollers of the train may be geared to be capable of rotating at such a high surface speed relative to the associated lickerin roller or rollers that only splitting of locks need take place and little or no combing.

The divider rollers may be geared together so that from the feed to the delivery end of the train certain of the rollers operate at decreasing speed.

According to a further feature of the invention, the train of lickerin rollers may be arranged so that the axes thereof are disposed out of a horizontal plane in staggered formation, in order to make possible any required adaptation of the machine, and for the purpose of economising in floor space.

By increasing the speed of the divider train, the function thereof becomes mainly one of splitting, whilst by increasing the speed of the lickerin train, a more severe combing action can be performed on the better split locks. In

some cases it may be desirable to alter the speeds of both trains at once. By this means it is possible to adapt the machine to the state of the locks being treated, e. g. if the locks are in lumps, felted or entangled, the whole set of dividers can be made to rotate faster so that combing will commence at a stage further away from the first roller, i. e. where the size of the locks has become smaller. If, however, the locks are open and fluffy, the speed of the whole divider set can be slowed down because advantage can be taken of this condition for the combing to start nearer to or at the first divider roller.

With the present invention the work of the lickerin-breast can be controlled absolutely and adapted to the requirements of the great variety of blends which the carding machine is called upon to treat. Not only is it possible to split up the locks so that the largest size of lock to get through in a train of six rollers is less than 1% of the original, but all the remaining 99% will be of a size only a fraction of the size of the said 1%. In addition, however, the application of an infinitely variable changespeed device to the divider set enables the stage when combing takes place to be variable. whereas, the application of an infinitely variable change-speed device to the lickerin rollers enables the severity of the combing to be controlled. Moreover, each fibre mixture, because of the length, the surface characteristics and other physical properties of the constituent fibres, will react in a different way to the action of the wires with which the rollers are covered. The correct speeds are critical and cannot be found except by constant observation of the result in the course of adjustment There are such a great number of relative speed combinations possible that by changing gears involving the stoppage of the machine, it is practically impossible to find the correct speeds. Moreover, the speed of the trains and the set of the rollers should be adjusted concurrently. This invention provides the means for arriving at the ideal critical speeds whilst the machine is running, in the shortest time.

The invention is hereinafter described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying diagrammatic drawings, in which:

Fig. 1 is a side elevation representing a conventional Bradford Worsted Carding Engine";

Fig. 2 is a similar view illustrating one embodiment of an improved lickerin-breast according to the invention; and

Fig. 3 is a similar View illustrating a modification.

Referring to Fig. 1 of the accompanying diagrammatic drawings, the lickerin-breast section is indicated at A. Wool is introduced into the machine in the form of a lap through lattice l and feed rollers 2. The first lickerin roller 3. rotating slowly in the direction of the arrow, takes the locks to the divider 4. The share of fibres of divider 4, split away from the lickerin roller 3, is stripped by the lickerin roller 3a which also strips the part of the lock that remained on the lickerin roller 3. Both lock-halves are brought subsequently by the lickerin roller 3a to its contact line with the divider 4a where the latter splits away a part (becoming of the original size) and duly allows it to be stripped away by the lickerin roller 31) which also strips the lickerin roller 3a from its share of the lock. Subsequently the divider 4b performs the same procedure (thereby reducing the original locksize to /8) and delivers its share to the lickerin roller 30, the latter also stripping the lickerin roller 31). The lickerin roller 30- is ultimately stripped by thefirst swift 5 of the carding engine proper, indicated at B.

This known arrangement of the lickerin-breast is inflexible and does not take into account the different fibre characteristics which constitute the components of different commercially required blends. The result is: nep formation, shortening of the fibre length and insufficient breaking up of the original lock-size so that much good fibre is pressed in between the swift wires (and becomes fettling waste) and the following swifts do not havea good chance to separate the fibres from each other and mix them thoroughly.

In one embodiment of lickerin-breast accordingto the invention, as illustrated in Fig. 2, the fibre lap is introduced into the machine by feed rollers Ito lickerin roller'3d and angle stripper Ii, or direct to the lickerin roller 3. The lickerin roller 3 takes a lock to the divider 4 with consequent splittin in two. The lickerin roller 3a strips the divider 4 and the lickerin roller 3 and carries the two halves to the divider db which splits them in two. Thus, two quarter-locks remain on the lickerin roller 3a and are carried to the divider 40 which will split away protrud ing fibres; however, the two quarter-shares of the divider 4b are stripped by the lickerin roller 3 and are thus forced to'repeat their course through the divider 4, the lickerin roller 3a and divider do. In this way they become reduced to th, the share of the lickerin roller 3a being forwarded tethe divider 4c, theshare of the divider 4b to the lickerin roller 3 so as to make its round again until it becomes reduced to individual fibres. v In the drawings, for the purpose of enabling the course of the material through the machine to be traced, two wires are shown at the contact line where a roller gives up fibres to the associated roller and three wires where it receives fibres from an associated roller.

The divider 4cand the lickerin roller 3a are stripped by the lickerin roller 32) with which roller the divider 4d co-operates. The locks are split by the latter and its share stripped by the lickerin roller 3a so that it is forced to travel back on the same route as described in the previous paragraph, until dissolved to individual fibres.

The share of the lickerin roller 31) is presented to the divider 46 which splits off protruding fibres. lickerin roller 30 and is met by the opposing wires of the divider 41. The share of the latter is stripped by, and thus passed back to, the lickerin roller 3b, divider 4d, lickerin roller 3a, divider 4b to lickerin roller 3 with the previously described result.

The lickerin roller 30 is stripped by the first proper swift of the carding'engine and the lockparticles are met by the divider 4g which splits away its share, passing it back to the lickerin roller 30, divider 4], etc. as above described.

As will be noted, assuming that the dividers split away one half of any lock, tuft or fibreagglomeration,presented to them, these will be reduced to at least 72nd part of their original size when they get past divider do. The rest of the locks etc., i. e. i -ind of their weight will be smaller in point of fact flgth, th, etc. of

the original size.

The share of both is stripped by the 6 areinfinitely variable within predetermined limits, such as e. g. so-called P. I. V. gears, which may incorporate reduction gearing, are driven from a motor 9 at constant speed.

The pulley Ia on the output shaft of the variable gear 1 drives one roller 30 of the lickerin train through a belt lb. The lickerin roller 30 drives its neighbour 3b in the train through gears Ill, Illa, I01), I00, and 3b, 3a and 3 are linked by a chain II passing over sprockets I22), I2a

and I2 respectively. Direction of rotation and relative speeds are indicated, the latter inversely by the size of the sprocket wheels. The relative speeds of the rollers may be initially adjusted according to requirements. For example, assuming that the lickerin rollers are all of the same diameter, the first roller 3 may rotate at 20 R. P. M., the second roller 3a at 30 R. P. M., the third roller 31) at 45 R. P. M. and the fourth roller 30 at 68 R. P. M. In this way the progressive change from a splitting action through a combined splitting and combing action to a prolonged combing action is obtained. The speed of the whole train can be increased or decreased at will, as required, by control wheel I3 whilst the machine is running.

The output shaft of variable change gear 8 drives the dividers 4 and AZ) by means of two belts Id and Ida respectively. The individual rollers of the divider train are connected by chains I5, Ida; their approximate relative speeds are inversely indicated by the size of the respective sets of sprocket wheels I6, Ida, Iiib, Ida and I1, I'Ia, Ill). The relative speed of the individual divider rollers may be adjusted by changing the sprocket wheels, but the speed of the entire train can be modified as required by means of the control wheel I3a.

At the highest possible speed of the divider train near to the surface speed of the lickerin roller 3 there will be mainly splitting and little or no combing of the lock retained by the dividers t and 42), but prolonged combing at the dividers 4e and 4 At the lowest possible speed combing will have been started already at the divider 3. Thus, by varying the speed of the divider train, it is possible to control the start, extent and duration of combing. By varying the speed of the Whole lickerin roller train we can modify the severity of combing. At high speed of the lickerin rollers the combing will be more severe, at low speed the combing action of the roller wires will be gentle. By observing the effect of these speed adjustments on the rollers, a compromise over a chosen speed range.

In the further embodiment illustrated in Fig. 3, one lickerin train consists of lickerin rollers 3, 3a., 3b, a fourth roller 3m functioning as a doifer.

A second train consists of lickerin rollers 3e, 3f, 39, also with a fourth roller 3h functioning as a dofier.

The two lickerin trains are connected by a stripper 27 which strips the doffer 3m and transfers the fibres to the lickerin roller 3e, the first of the next lickerin train.

takerin 3d to the first lickerin roller 3.

The divider train consists of rollers 4, 4h, 42', 47', 4k, 41 interconnected by a single chain [9 passing over sprockets I8, [8a, [8b, 180, l8d, 18s, I 8f, [89 associated with the respective rollers 4, 42', 3m, 21, 4a, 41, 4k, 4h. It will be noted that the doffer 3m and the stripper 21 are included in this train which receives its drive from the pulley of the output shaft of the variable speed gear 1 through the belt To.

The two lickerin trains are driven from the variable gear 8 and belts 20, 20a. The lickerin rollers 3a and 3, 3 and 3e are driven by chain from the rollers 3b and 39 respectively at appropriately slower speeds. The feed takerin roller 3d and the doffer 3h can be driven by means such as belts 9a, 9b from the motor Q. Takerin 3d and the feed rollers 2 are driven at constant speed as required by the count of slubbing (yarn) to be produced and by the rate of production. E is the angle stripper, forwarding fibers from E3 and l3a are the control wheels of the variable speed gear (P. I. V.)

The fancy 2i, collaborating with the lickerin roller 3b is driven from the latter through speed gear 22 which is infinitely variable Within predetermined limits and belts 22a, 22b. The fancy 21a, collaborating with the lickerin roller 3g is driven by the latter through speed gear 23, which is infinitely variable within predetermined limits, including, e. g. a variable pulley drive including belts 23a, 23b, 23c and variable pulley 2303.

The material is introduced into the engine by means of feed rollers 2 from a lattice i served by a hopper feed or, alternatively, from a lap.

The looks or tufts pass through the lickerin roller 3, are split by the divider 4, and passed on to the lickerin roller 3a. The divider ih splits both halves and its share (as well as that of the lickerin roller 3a) is stripped by the lickerin roller 31). The divider 4i splits the locks and passes its share back to the lickerin roller 3a so that it is split again by the divider 4h.

As the lickerin roller 3b is followed by the dofier 3m, whose wires are opposed to that of the roller 3b, the former functions as a swift and acts as a leveller and mixer by virtue of the fibre layer which surrounds it permanently because a part of the fibres caught by the doifer are combed back on to its surface. To enable the doifer 3m to clear the lickerin roller 3b as efficiently as may be required, the fancy 2| collaborates with the lickerin roller 31). The fancy 2! is therefore driven by means of the variable speed gear 22 which can be adjusted while the machine is running so that the fancy 2| may lift the back end of the fibres embedded in the lickerin roller 3b to the extent required.

The stripper 2'! strips the doffer 3m and transfers the fibres to the first and slowest lickerin roller 3c of the second lickerin train consisting of the three rollers 36, 31, 3g, each consecutive roller being driven at increasing speeds so that they may strip each other. Direction of turning is indicated by arrows. The dividers 47', 47c, 41 are interposed in positions as in the first lickerin train and their function is exactly the same as described in the first train. The doffer 371. and the fancy 21a have also the same function as described in the previous paragraph. However, the condensed web (fleece) from the doffer 3h is taken off by a flycomb 24. This web can either be made into a sliver and coiled into a can, or the sliver may be transferred to a second carding engine of the same type by means of a Scotch or a long fibre-feed. This second carding engine may be a finishing card followed by a condenser as normally used in the woollen cardin engine, producing slubbings which can be spun into yarn.

If the raw material being carded requires more intensive treatment, a divider can be placed between the lickerin rollers 3 and 3a opposite the divider 4, and also between lickerin rollers 3e and 3f opposite the divider 49, as in the arrangement of Fig. 2. With this change, the locks will be passed back and split more often, i. e. be subjected to repeated carding.

In order to provide a more compact machine occupying less floor space, the lickerin rollers ar arranged so that the axes thereof are disposed out of a horizontal plane and in staggered formation. As shown, the rollers are carried by a main framework comprising inclined side members 25, 25a and a top bridge member 25b, the side members 25, 25a being suitably connected as by struts 25c, the structure providing an arrangement substantially of inverted V or U formation. Obviously, other arrangements of the rollers may be adopted with the same end in view.

The term train of rollers is intended to include any set of rollers geared together so that the respective rollers in the train operate at speeds determined by preselected ratios. Thus, the train of lickerin rollers may or may not include one or more doffer rollers co-operating with a lickerin roller or rollers, the dofier roller or rollers being geared to the train of lickerin rollers or to the train of divider rollers, or being otherwise driven preferably in such manner that the speed thereof is independently variable according to requirements.

It will be understood that the invention is not limited to the particular embodiments hereinbefore described. For example, the driving means for effecting variation of the speed of one train independently of the other while the machinery is in operation may be applied to the standard arrangement of lickerin-breast as i1- lustrated in Fig. 1. Furthermore, the individual roller elements may be otherwise driven and geared together in any other suitable manner and any suitable form and arrangement of .variable speed transmission may be employed. Thus, one train may be driven from a motor through variable speed transmission and the other train may be driven from the first train through a second variable speed transmission. In such an arrangement the speed of both trains together is variable by the first transmission and the relative speeds of the trains by the second transmission.

What I claim and desire to protect by Letters Patent is:

1. Carding machinery comprising a feed mechanism, a train of at least two lickerin rollers geared together and following each other so that each roller of the train is in stripping co-operation with the preceding roller, at least two divider rollers each placed between the arcs of neighboring lickerin rollers and co-operating therewith, said divider rollers being geared together in a train, means for driving said feed mechanism at a predetermined speed, means including a common source of power for driving said trains of rollers and including an independently variable speed transmission for each train, said variable speed transmissions permitting independent variation of the speeds of the trains while the machine is in operation and being so limited in their ranges of speed variation that the maximum surface speed of each of the divider rollers is always less than the minimum surface speed of the two lickerin rollers with which it cooperates.

2. Carding machinery comprising two units each of which comprises a train of lickerin rollers, a co-operating train of divider rollers and associated driving means and variable speed transmission as defined in claim 1 and a dofier roller interposed between two lickerin trains and geared to one of said transmissions.

3. Carding machinery as defined in claim 1 wherein a doffer roller is placed at the end of the lickerin train and the speed of which is independently adjustable.

4. Carding machinery as defined in claim 1 including a fancy roller and a doffer arranged to work in conjunction with a lickerin roller,

10 said fancy roller being driven by means capable of variation of speed within limits while the machine is in operation.

ANDRE: VARGA.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 789,479 Barber May 9, 1905 1,087,130 McBride Feb. 17, 1914 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 5,511 Great Britain of 1891 267,135 Great Britain Mar. 22, 1928 273,799 Great Britain July 6, 1927 

